Philip Reilly Appointed to BUSPH Dean’s Advisory Board.

Philip Reilly, MD, JD, has been appointed to the Boston University School of Public Health Dean’s Advisory Board.

Reilly, a partner at Third Rock Ventures, will join the Board in reviewing strategic plans developed by the School’s dean and leadership team and in assisting them to raise philanthropic support for School priorities.

Philip ReillyWith an extensive background in the creation and management of companies that seek to develop new treatments for rare genetic disorders, Reilly is currently exploring ways that the tools of molecular biology can be adapted to help lower diagnostic and treatment costs for infectious diseases.

“I am very excited to join the BUSPH Deans Advisory Board” says Reilly. “We live in a world that is both very big and very small. The public health community faces an enormous challenge to extend and implement technologies currently only available to the richest 10 percent of the world population. For the foreseeable future, there will be a vastly expanding role for public health schools, and I look forward to helping extend the reach and impact of BUSPH”.

For the past five years, Reilly has been working to create new companies to address unmet needs in genetic medicine. “Although genetic disease may seem to be removed from the traditional areas of public health involvement,” says Reilly, “that is really not the case. One example is sickle cell anemia which is very common in Africa, where there are still many countries with little access to genetic testing or therapies.”

Reilly joined Third Rock Ventures in 2009 to support the firm’s role in founding and growing new ventures, with a particular focus on nurturing transformational companies dedicated to breakthrough treatments for genetic disorders. With more than $800 million and two funds under management, the firm is focused on building exceptional companies in areas of disruptive science that will make a difference in the lives of patients.

“I’m trained in internal medicine and genetics I spent most of my career as a doctor treating one patient at a time,” Reilly said. “Now I try to assist the creation of new technologies that can help to cure thousands of people.”

Reilly is currently a trustee of Cornell University and an overseer of Weill Cornell Medical College. He served twice (2000 & 2003) as President of the American Society of Law, Medicine, and Ethics. He is a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics, and served for many years on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Human Genetics.

Prior to joining Third Rock Ventures, Reilly was the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Interleukin Genetics, Inc. and before that he was the Executive Director of the non-profit Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center for Mental Retardation. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 articles in scholarly journals and published six books.

Reilly holds an MD from Yale University, a JD from Columbia University, is a member of the Massachusetts Bar and is board certified in internal medicine and clinical genetics. He has held teaching positions at Harvard Medical School, Cornell University and as has served as adjunct professor of both legal studies and biology at Brandeis University.

“I am very pleased and excited that Phil Reilly has agreed to join my Deans Advisory Board” said BUSPH Dean Robert Meenan. “I have known Phil since we both worked as physicians at Boston City Hospital, and I have the greatest respect for his intellectual range and his many accomplishments. He will be a very positive addition to our Board”.

Founded in 1976, BUSPH now plays an increasingly prominent role in the field of academic public health, earning a national and international reputation for its education programs, research capabilities and service activities. Today the School’s faculty, students and alumni work in communities, agencies, clinics and laboratories to find real-world solutions to public health problems.